For years and years, I've hunted for ways to help my kids and myself keep track of CHORES .....
I would try all kinds of systems, to no avail ..
FIRST, my oldest child was easily bored. Story is an ENFP with ADHD and she would get super excited, work the program like crazy for a few days, or a few weeks, and then realize that she was doing chores ... UGH ... and quit, leaving her chores to pile up undone or completed by mom or Song. It did not help that people were constantly chiding me about grounding her because they felt that she had too much school and too many chores, obviously because she was smart and could be a hard worker when she chose to be. Rewards and Punishment were equally ineffective.
SECOND, the ref was seldom on board with anything that I did. He worked 40+ hours a week and prefers to have his weekends or days off to rest and recuperate as much as possible. The kids and school and the house were and still are my job. Complicating matters is the problem that he is the ONLY driver in the house.
THIRD, to often the kids did not receive their rewards that they earned ... on the other hand, punishments were also often overlooked, dismissed, or downsized. And that was often my fault for caving into empty promises or relatives being "do-gooders" or just being exhausted. Story once worked super hard for a year to earn a trip to the North Pole. Just as she earned it, the Ref lost his job, then got a job in another city, we packed, put the house up for sale, and moved ... and she never got her reward. The North Pole was only 30 - 40 minutes away, we probably could have afforded it before we left that city, and the Ref could have taken her alone ... but he never "had time" from March to July ... . Such was the fate of many rewards earned. Substitutions were rare and a long time in coming.
But it was hard to set up a system, and see it crumble within a few weeks to the point that only Song and I were on board. Especially when coming up with rewards costs real money. I needed something that rewarded without my having to come up with money and time to buy it.
Then about 2 years ago, I tripped on Habitica.com ... at the time, we were using OUR HOME to track chores and rewards, but it was slow and hard to keep track of for me. I dilly-dallied around with Habitica for a few months, signed up, dilly-dallied around some more. Until Scholar saw the website and begged to try it for weeks. Sure, why not.
Within 2 weeks, the whole family was signed up (except the Ref) and we joined a couple of other groups of kids/young adults to form a group that worked together. And the kids thrived.
I later discovered that kids are supposed to be 13 to join, or parents need to send in a written permission to use the site. It was easy to do.
So what is so great?
First, you can work with others. Groups of 8 - 16 work pretty good.
Second, you can add rewards of your own right along with what the "game" offers. You earn gold and buy equipment and pets eggs to hatch. You get to cast spells. And there is frequently new content and contests. This keeps it exciting (and cheap).
http://habitica.wikia.com/wiki/Pets
Third, It is pretty easy to set up, tweak, and check off. And lends itself to a game like feel as you fight battles, change your equipment/ costumes, and raise your pets into mounts. As a group, we have costume challenges, and it is a lot of fun to see what we all come up with as the game progresses.
Fourth, we have to work together to succeed. If you do your tasks, you get rewarded. But if you don't, you lose your health. If you are on a quest with your group, this hurts everyone!
As you reach level 10, you are able to choose from one of four workers.
Everyone starts as a Warrior. The warrior is the only type with 3 ways to help others. There is also a Mage, a Healer, and a Rogue, who only helps others in 1 way. There are 4 qualities to increase, and each type has 2 of them.
At level 10, you get to choose what type you want to play the game being. You work your way up to level 100, which takes most people 6 months to a year, although, with enough chores set to high, you can reach that goal much faster. Then at level 100, you earn the Orb of Rebirth and you can start all over at level 1 and choose a new path.
There are 3 ways to classify your chores and goals.
Habits can be checked off multiple times a day and set up to be positive or negative.
To-Dos are One Time. You put it on and get lots of points when you check it off. If you wait too long to check it off, it will cause your habits and dailies to worth less and less as time goes on.
http://habitica.wikia.com/wiki/To-Dos
We ran the first year without a subscription. Although 1 of our group did purchase a subscription, and a second joined the wiki editing and other challenges to earn gems. But earlier this year, the Ref allowed me to get a year subscription so that I can give the kids gems for extra work in school and chores. (Do NOT ask for gems online, it will get your chatting privileges revoked!) So what I do ... I set up a contest, Math, and tell them that the one who makes the most progress in Kahns gets 2 gems. That will buy them a magic potion for a special pet, and during the 4 galas, they can buy old specialty equipment. Or they can save them up for backgrounds or special sets of hair or colored skin.
Having gems is a whole lot more fun than playing without the gems.
Cautions: the game is not really designed for younger kids. So you have to keep them monitored to make sure they are not just checking things off. They keep the game pretty clean, but many of the group are left-leaners and can be obvious about it. We just don't use the guilds and have not run into problems.
Ads are often for other games and websites, and some are not child-friendly, especially in the wiki areas. I have only had problems with Scholar with the wiki. But now that he is limited to 30 minutes a week on the wiki pages, he only looks at the information he wants to know.
Also, some will object to the magic feel of the game.
The Habitica Chore game can be found on several platforms, my kids use their tablets as well as the computer to keep up with their tasks.
